Enzyme stabilization by covalent binding in nanoporous sol-gel glass for nonaqueous biocatalysis

A unique nanoporous sol-gel glass possessing a highly ordered porous structure (with a pore size of 153 A in diameter) was examined for use as a support material for enzyme immobilization. A model enzyme, alpha-chymotrypsin, was efficiently bound onto the glass via a bifunctional ligand, trimethoxysilylpropanal, with an active enzyme loading of 0.54 wt%. The glass-bound chymotrypsin exhibited greatly enhanced stability both in aqueous solution and organic solvents. The half-life of the glass-bound alpha-chymotrypsin was >1000-fold higher than that of the native enzyme, as measured either in aqueous buffer or anhydrous methanol. The enhanced stability in methanol, which excludes the possibility of enzyme autolysis, particularly reflected that the covalent binding provides effective protection against enzyme inactivation caused by structural denaturation. In addition, the activity of the immobilized alpha-chymotrypsin was also much higher than that of the native enzyme in various organic solvents. From these results, it appears that the glass-enzyme complex developed in the present work can be used as a high-performance biocatalyst for various chemical processing applications, particularly in organic media. Published by John Wiley & Sons     

Cooperativity of covalent attachment and ion exchange on alcalase immobilization using glutaraldehyde chemistry: Enzyme stabilization and improved proteolytic activity

Alcalase was scarcely immobilized on monoaminoethyl-N-aminoethyl (MANAE)-agarose beads at different pH values (<20% at pH 7). The enzyme did not immobilize on MANAE-agarose activated with glutaraldehyde at high ionic strength, suggesting a low reactivity of the enzyme with the support functionalized in this manner. However, the immobilization is relatively rapid when using low ionic strength and glutaraldehyde activated support. Using these conditions, the enzyme was immobilized at pH 5, 7, and 9, and in all cases, the activity vs. Boc-Ala-ONp decreased to around 50%. However, the activity vs. casein greatly depends on the immobilization pH, while at pH 5 it is also 50%, at pH 7 it is around 200%, and at pH 9 it is around 140%. All immobilized enzymes were significantly stabilized compared to the free enzyme when inactivated at pH 5, 7, or 9. The highest stability was always observed when the enzyme was immobilized at pH 9, and the worst stability occurred when the enzyme was immobilized at pH 5, in agreement with the reactivity of the amino groups of the enzyme. Stabilization was lower for the three preparations when the inactivation was performed at pH 5. Thus, this is a practical example on how the cooperative effect of ion exchange and covalent immobilization may be used to immobilize an enzyme when only one independent cause of immobilization is unable to immobilize the enzyme, while adjusting the immobilization pH leads to very different properties of the final immobilized enzyme preparation. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 35: e2768, 2019.     

Immobilization and stabilization of a cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase by covalent attachment on highly activated glyoxyl-agarose supports

Covalent immobilization of cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase on glyoxyl-agarose beads promotes a very high stabilization of the enzyme against any distorting agent (temperature, pH, organic solvents). For example, the optimized immobilized preparation preserves 90% of initial activity when incubated for 22 h in 30% ethanol at pH 7 and 40 degrees C. Other immobilized preparations (obtained via other immobilization protocols) exhibit less than 10% of activity after incubation under similar conditions. Optimized glyoxyl-agarose immobilized preparation expressed a high percentage of catalytic activity (70%). Immobilization using any technique prevents enzyme inactivation by air bubbles during strong stirring of the enzyme. Stabilization of the enzyme immobilized on glyoxyl-agarose is higher when using the highest activation degree (75 micromol of glyoxyl per milliliter of support) as well as when performing long enzyme-support incubation times (4 h) at room temperature. Multipoint covalent immobilization seems to be responsible for this very high stabilization associated to the immobilization process on highly activated glyoxyl-agarose. The stabilization of the enzyme against the inactivation by ethanol seems to be interesting to improve cyclodextrin production: ethanol strongly inhibits the enzymatic degradation of cyclodextrin while hardly affecting the cyclodextrin production rate of the immobilized-stabilized preparation.     

Improved stabilization of chemically aminated enzymes via multipoint covalent attachment on glyoxyl supports

The surface carboxylic groups of penicillin G acylase and glutaryl acylase were chemically aminated in a controlled way by reaction with ethylenediamine via the 1-ethyl-3-(dimethylamino-propyl) carbodiimide coupling method. Then, both proteins were immobilized on glyoxyl agarose. In both cases, the immobilization of the chemically modified enzymes improved the enzyme stability compared to the stability of the immobilized but non-modified enzyme (by a four-fold factor in the case of PGA and a 20-fold factor in the case of GA). The chemical modification presented a deleterious effect on soluble enzyme stability. Therefore, the improved stability should be related to a higher multipoint covalent attachment, involving both the lysine amino groups and also the new amino groups chemically introduced on the enzyme. Moreover, the lower pK(a) of the new amino groups permitted to immobilize the enzyme under milder conditions. In fact, the aminated proteins could be immobilized even at pH 9, while the non-modified enzymes could only be immobilized at pH over 10.     

Immobilization and stabilization of a bimolecular aggregate of the lipase from Pseudomonas fluorescens by multipoint covalent attachment

The soluble lipase from Pseudomonas fluorescens (PFL) forms bimolecular aggregates in which the hydrophobic active centers of the enzyme monomers are in close contact. This bimolecular aggregate could be immobilized by multipoint covalent linkages on glyoxyl supports at pH 8.5. The monomer of PFL obtained by incubation of the soluble enzyme in the presence of detergent (0.5% TRITON X-100) could not be immobilized under these conditions. The bimolecular aggregate has two amino terminal residues in the same plane. A further incubation of the immobilized derivative under more alkaline conditions (e.g., pH 10.5) allows a further multipoint attachment of lysine (Lys) residues located in the same plane as the amino terminal residues. Monomeric PFL was immobilized at pH 10.5 in the presence of 0.5% TRITON X-100. The properties of both PFL derivatives were compared. In general, the bimolecular derivatives were more active, more selective and more stable both in water and in organic solvents than the monomolecular ones. The bimolecular derivative showed twice the activity and a much higher selectivity (100 versus 20) for the hydrolysis of R,S-2-hydroxy-4-phenylbutyric acid ethyl ester (HPBEt) in aqueous media at pH 5.0 compared to the monomeric derivative. In experiments measuring thermal inactivation at 75 °C, the bimolecular derivative was 5-fold more stable than the monomeric derivative (and 50-fold more stable than a one-point covalently immobilized PFL derivative), and it had a half-life greater than 4 h. In organic solvents (cyclohexane and tert-amyl alcohol), the bimolecular derivative was much more stable and more active than the monomeric derivative in catalyzing the transesterification of olive oil with benzyl alcohol.     

Immobilization-stabilization of alpha-chymotrypsin by covalent attachment to aldehyde-agarose gels

We have developed a strategy for immobilization-stabilization of alpha-chymotrypsin by multipoint covalent attachment of the enzyme, through its amino groups, to agarosealdehyde gels. We have studied the role of the main variables that control the intensity of these enzyme-support multi-interaction processes (surface density of aldehyde groups in the activated gel, contact time between the immobilized enzyme and the activated support prior to borohydride reduction of the derivatives, etc.). In this way, we have prepared a number of very different chymotrypsinagarose derivatives. Our best derivatives, with the most intense multipoint attachment, were more stable than one-point attached derivatives and were more than 60,000-fold more stable than soluble enzyme in the absence of autolysis phenomena. In spite of the dramatic stabilization, the catalytic activity of these derivatives is little changed (they only lose 35% of intrinsic activity after this intense enzyme-support multi-interaction process). In addition, we have also demonstrated the very high capacity of 6% aldehyde-agarose gels to immobilize pure chymotrypsin (40 mg enzyme/mL catalyst). Furthermore, we have been able to establish a clear correlation between enzyme-support multipoint covalent attachment, stabilization against very different denaturing agents (heat, urea, organic cosolvents), and insensitivity of those immobilized chymotrypsin molecules to some activating agents.     

Functional stabilization of invertase by covalent modification with pectin

Pectin was attached to ethylenediamine-activated carbohydrate moieties of invertase using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide as coupling agent. The modified enzyme retained 57% of the original activity and contained 2.7 mol polymer per mol holoenzyme. Its optimum temperature was increased by 8°C and its thermostability by 7.3°C. The half-life at 65°C was increased from 5 min to 2 days. The enzyme stability was enhanced by 33% at pH 2.0, and also by 27% at pH 12.0. The conjugate retained about 96% of its initial activity after 3 h incubation in 6 M urea.     

Optimization of an industrial biocatalyst of glutaryl acylase: stabilization of the enzyme by multipoint covalent attachment onto new amino-epoxy Sepabeads

Glutaryl-7-aminocephalosporanic acid acylase (GA), an industrially relevant enzyme, has been immobilized onto very different supports, including glyoxyl agarose, heterofunctional epoxy Sepabeads, glutaraldehyde and cyanogen bromide (CNBr) activated supports. Immobilization onto amino-epoxy Sepabeads rendered the most thermo stable preparation of GA, with a half-life time eight times higher than the soluble enzyme, keeping 80% of the enzyme activity. Several parameters that affect the enzyme-support interaction (pH and incubation time) were studied. It was found that after immobilization onto amino-epoxy Sepabeads, incubation at alkaline pH and low temperature exerted dramatic stabilizing effects, increasing the half-life time of the derivative 130 times with respect to the soluble enzyme, while keeping unaltered its intrinsic activity. The loading capacity of the amino-epoxy Sepabeads proved to be very good with a maximum load of 62 mg of protein per g of support with 85 IU/g at 25 degrees C and 200 IU/g at 37 degrees C which makes it a biocatalyst of possible industrial application.     

Steric stabilization of poly-L-Lysine/DNA complexes by the covalent attachment of semitelechelic poly[N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide

The concept of steric stabilization was utilized for self-assembling polyelectrolyte poly-L-lysine/DNA (pLL/DNA) complexes using covalent attachment of semitelechelic poly[N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide] (pHPMA). We have examined the effect of coating of the complexes with pHPMA on their physicochemical stability, phagocytic uptake in vitro, and biodistribution in vivo. The coated complexes showed stability against aggregation in 0.15 M NaCl and reduced binding of albumin, chosen as a model for the study of the interactions of the complexes with plasma proteins. The presence of coating pHPMA had no effect on the morphology of the complexes as shown by transmission electron microscopy. However, results of the study of polyelectrolyte exchange reactions with heparin and pLL suggested decreased stability of the coated complexes in these types of reactions compared to uncoated pLL/DNA complexes. Coated complexes showed decreased phagocytic capture by mouse peritoneal macrophages in vitro. Decreased phagocytosis in vitro, however, did not correlate with results of in vivo study in mice showing no reduction in the liver uptake and no increase in the circulation times in the blood. We propose that the rapid plasma elimination of coated pLL/DNA complexes is a result of binding serum proteins and also of their low stability toward polyelectrolyte exchange reactions as a consequence of their equilibrium nature.     

Immobilization and stabilization of microbial lipases by multipoint covalent attachment on aldehyde-resin affinity: Application of the biocatalysts in biodiesel synthesis

Microbial lipase preparations from Thermomyces lanuginosus (TLL) and Pseudomonas fluorescens (PFL) were immobilized by multipoint covalent attachment on Toyopearl AF-amino-650M resin and the most active and thermal stable derivatives used to catalyze the transesterification reaction of babassu and palm oils with ethanol in solvent-free media. For this, different activating agents, mainly glutaraldehyde, glycidol and epichlorohydrin were used and immobilization parameters were estimated based on the hydrolysis of olive oil emulsion and butyl butyrate synthesis. TLL immobilized on glyoxyl-resin allowed obtaining derivatives with the highest hydrolytic activity (HA_der) and thermal stability, between 27 and 31 times more stable than the soluble lipase. Although PFL derivatives were found to be less active and thermally stables, similar formation of butyl butyrate concentrations were found for both TLL and PFL derivatives. The highest conversion into biodiesel was found in the transesterification of palm oil catalyzed by both TLL and PFL glyoxyl-derivatives.     

Epoxy sepabeads: a novel epoxy support for stabilization of industrial enzymes via very intense multipoint covalent attachment

Sepabeads-EP (a new epoxy support) has been utilized to immobilize-stabilize the enzyme penicillin G acylase (PGA) via multipoint covalent attachment. These supports are very robust and suitable for industrial purposes. Also, the internal geometry of the support is composed by cylindrical pores surrounded by the convex surfaces (this offers a good geometrical congruence for reaction with the enzyme), and it has a very high superficial density of epoxy groups (around 100 micromol/mL). These features should permit a very intense enzyme-support interaction. However, the final stability of the immobilized enzyme is strictly dependent on the immobilization protocol. By using conventional immobilization protocols (neutral pH values, nonblockage of the support) the stability of the immobilized enzyme was quite similar to that achieved using Eupergit C to immobilize the PGA. However, when using a more sophisticated three-step immobilization/stabilization/blockage procedure, the Sepabeads derivative was hundreds-fold more stable than Eupergit C derivatives. The protocol used was as follows: (i) the enzyme was first covalently immobilized under very mild experimental conditions (e.g., pH 7.0 and 20 degrees C); (ii) the already immobilized enzyme was further incubated under more drastic conditions (higher pH values, long incubation periods, etc.) in order to "facilitate" the formation of new covalent linkages between the immobilized enzyme molecule and the support; (iii) the remaining epoxy groups of the support were blocked with very hydrophilic compounds to stop any additional interaction between the enzyme and the support. This third point was found to be critical for obtaining very stable enzymes: derivatives blocked with mercaptoethanol were much less stable than derivatives blocked with glycine or other amino acids. This was attributed to the better masking of the hydrophobicity of the support by the amino acids (having two charges).     

Enhancing the methyl-donor activity of methylcobalamin by covalent attachment of DNA

The preparation of a covalent DNA conjugate of vitamin B12 by means of heterogeneous solid-phase synthesis is reported. The cyano-corrinoid made available, dipotassium Co(beta)-cyanocobalamin-(3'-->2'),(3'-->5')-bis-2'-deoxythymidyl-3'-ate (K(2)-4), was cleanly methylated at the Co center by electrosynthetic means. Aqueous solutions of the resulting organometallic DNA-B12 conjugate K(2)-5 exhibited spectroscopic properties indicative of significant weakening of the axial (Co-N) bond, together with a 25-times higher basicity relative to Co(beta)-methylcobalamin (2). Methyl-transfer equilibria of pH-neutral aqueous solutions of K(2)-5 and cob(I)alamin (K-7) on one side, and of cob(I)alamin-(3'-->2'),(3'-->5')-bis-2'-deoxythymidyl-3'-ate (K(3)-8) and methylcobalamin (2) on the other, were studied at room temperature (Scheme 3). The NMR-derived data provided an equilibrium constant of ca. 0.3. Activation of K(2)-5 for abstraction of its Co-bound Me group by a nucleophile (such as cob(I)alamin) was, thus, indicated.     

Thermal stabilization of amylolytic enzymes by covalent coupling to soluble polysaccharides

The immobilization of pullulanase and beta-amylase on soluble polysaccharides (dextrans and amylose) has been carried out. The method used for coupling the enzymes to the carbohydrate support involves limited periodate oxidation of the polysaccharide followed by reductive alkylation with sodium cyanoborohydride or borohydride. The influence of the degree of functionalization of the carbohydrate, the incubation time, the nature of the reducing agent and, for the dextrans studied, their molecular weight, on the properties of the conjugate were studied. We have observed an apparent correlation between the molecular weight of the glycoprotein conjugates formed and their thermal stability, resistance to urea denaturation and their kinetic parameters. By selecting the proper experimental conditions leading to conjugates with maximum thermal stabilities, it has also been shown that beta-amylase conjugates can hydrolyze starch at a temperature 20 degrees C higher than the corresponding value for the native enzyme. This result demonstrates that conjugation may result in modified enzymes leaving a high operational stability at elevated temperatures. We suggest that the immobilization method presented in this article represents an approach to the stabilization of enzymes employed at an industrial level, which may be of general application.     

Enzyme stabilization without carriers

This review deals with the problem of enzyme stabilization without the use of carriers. The following main types of stabilization are considered: addition of low-molecular weight compounds; addition of organic solvents; chemical modification of key functional groups on enzymes; intramolecular crosslinking with bifunctional reagents. The mechanisms of the procedures are discussed, and further methods for stabilizing enzymes without the use of carriers are suggested.     

Novel and efficient method for immobilization and stabilization of β-d-galactosidase by covalent attachment onto magnetic Fe3O4–chitosan nanoparticles

A novel and efficient immobilization of β-d-galactosidase from Aspergillus oryzae has been developed by using magnetic Fe₃O₄–chitosan (Fe₃O₄–CS) nanoparticles as support. The magnetic Fe₃O₄–CS nanoparticles were prepared by electrostatic adsorption of chitosan onto the surface of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles made through co-precipitation of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺. The resultant material was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry and thermogravimetric analysis. β-d-Galactosidase was covalently immobilized onto the nanocomposites using glutaraldehyde as activating agent. The immobilization process was optimized by examining immobilized time, cross-linking time, enzyme concentration, glutaraldehyde concentration, the initial pH values of glutaraldehyde and the enzyme solution. As a result, the immobilized enzyme presented a higher storage, pH and thermal stability than the soluble enzyme. Galactooligosaccharide was formed with lactose as substrate by using the immobilized enzyme as biocatalyst, and a maximum yield of 15.5% (w/v) was achieved when about 50% lactose was hydrolyzed. Hence, the magnetic Fe₃O₄–chitosan nanoparticles are proved to be an effective support for the immobilization of β-d-galactosidase.